The present invention relates to amine and quaternary ammonium compounds and formulations thereof useful as, for instance, fabric softeners, paper debonders, hair conditioners, skin conditioners, paper deinking and ink floatation agents, asphalt emulsion agents, corrosion inhibitor agents, ore floatation agents, pesticide emulsion agents, car drying aid sprays, drilling fluid additives, and the like.
Heretofore quaternary ammonium compounds and a very few dialkyl ammonium compounds ("conventional quats") have found widespread use in many applications. For example, a variety of conventional quats have been proposed for many uses, for example, in fabric softeners for home use or for industrial and institutional use. In general, such compounds exhibit properties which present some difficulty in the manufacture, formulation use, aesthetic properties, biodegradability, and environmental compatibility of these compositions. For example, many of the conventional compositions used for these functions, even if completely biodegradable with time, do not biodegrade as rapidly as could be desired and are thus not considered readily biodegradable. In addition, several of the commercial readily biodegradable softeners, conditioners, and debonders do not function as effectively as the conventional products that are less biodegradable. Thus, to maintain effective levels of performance, increased amounts of such less effective, more readily biodegradable products (such as softeners) must be employed and, as will be readily apparent, this factor decreases the cost-effectiveness of the product.
In addition, the color and the odor of the products using conventional quats also pose problems with many biodegradable raw materials. Light color and low odor are essential to obtaining customer acceptance and to achieving stable and acceptable long-term product aesthetic properties. Such properties are difficult to achieve with conventional quats. Moreover, there is increasing interest in obtaining fabric softener and personal care formulations which are clear (translucent or transparent) liquids, even to the point of obtaining a crystal-clear dispersion when the formulation is dispensed and dispersed into rinse water (even at levels of 50-100 ppm actives in water). Clear formulations may also offer several performance advantages, depending on the application, for example, clear fabric softeners offer reduced staining of the fabric, improved dispersibility, and greatly improved rewetting of the fabric or other substrate. Discovery of such clear compositions requires careful identification of proper quaternary and/or polyquaternary ammonium compounds, together with appropriate additives, such as solvents and cosolvents, which act together to achieve the desired appearance.
The relatively poor solubility of conventional quats also contributes to certain difficulties that will vary, depending on the application. For example, when such conventional quats are used in fabric softeners, their poor solubility inhibits the dispersibility of the fabric softener actives into water and the dispersibility of the formulated fabric softener product into the washing machine.
Thus, there remains a need for identification of new amine and ammonium derivatives, and particular diquaternary and polyquaternary derivatives, which are useful as fabric softeners and which are also biodegradable, highly effective in softening, debonding, conditioning, and the like, and yet avoid these problems upon manufacture, formulation and use. It is also desirable for the active agents used in hair and skin conditioners, paper debonding compositions, textile softeners, and the like, to be readily biodegradable and to exhibit a satisfactorily high activity. Conventional products have to date not been able to exhibit both properties to a high degree, thus necessitating acceptance of reduced biodegradability or reduced activity. There is thus still a need for compounds exhibiting levels of activity as conditioners, paper debonders, and so on, as the case may be, which are comparable or superior to conventionally employed actives, such as conventional quats, while also exhibiting ready biodegradability.
Certain polyquaternary ammonium compounds have been disclosed. For example, Conbere et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,878,144, discloses the use of certain diquaternary ammonium compounds for use as softening and antistatic agents for use in aqueous textile resin treating baths (see, in particular, col. 2, lines 50-65). Conbere et al., however, discloses no actual examples of the use of diquaternary compounds in aqueous textile resin treating baths, does not provide any formulations incorporating such diquaternary compounds, nor mentions or suggests the use of such diquaternary compounds in any application other than for textile fabric treatment using aqueous textile resin treating baths, which use is very different from the applications disclosed and claimed herein. Moreover, the disclosure of Conbere et al. is limited to diquaternary compounds, whereas the instant application and claims include amines and triquats and tetraquats.
Schroeder et aL, U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,736, discloses the incorporation of certain silicone betaines into tissue to improve the softness thereof. Schroeder et al. also discloses the optional use of certain polyquaternary ammonium compounds in combination with the silicone betaines of the invention. Schroeder et al., however, discloses no actual examples of the use of polyquaternary compounds in the method of the invention, does not provide any formulations incorporating such polyquaternary compounds, nor mentions or suggests the use of such polyquaternary compounds in any application other than tissue softening and only in combination with certain silicone betaines.
As can be appreciated, the chemistry of fabric softeners, paper debonders, hair conditioners, skin conditioners, textile softeners, car wax sprays, and the like is challenging. Each of these applications presents its own complications, because the interactions between the various components of the compositions must be considered in addition to the individual chemistry of each component.
For example, considering the fabric softening application, the detergent compounds with the widest range of cleaning properties are generally anionic (negatively charged) surfactants. Such anionic surfactants, for example, may include the alkylbenzene sulfonates, .alpha.-olefin sulfonates, and xylene sulfonates available from Witco Corporation under the WITCONATE.RTM. trademark. In contrast, as exemplified by the amine and ammonium compounds discussed above, fabric softening compounds are generally cationic (positively charged). Thus, when the anionic detergent ingredients and cationic softening ingredients are present in the same aqueous solution, they have a natural tendency to complex together or even precipitate out of solution. This complexation or precipitation reaction interferes with the performance of both the detergent compounds and the softening compounds and is therefore undesirable. It can be readily appreciated that this undesirable complexation or precipitation reaction may occur if both detergent and softener compounds are added together in a wash cycle; however, as North American washing machines typically rinse the clothes only once before fabric softener is added to the washload, even if the fabric softener is added during a rinse cycle (as is typically done), residual anionic detergent compounds (including builders) present in the fabric complexes with the cationic softener compounds.